Best marathon: 2:23:57 (2007, St. George). Won the Top of Utah Marathon twice (2003,2004). Won the USATF LDR circuit in Utah in 2006.

Draper Days 5 K 15:37 (2004)

Did not know this until June 2012, but it turned out that I've been running with spina bifida occulta in L-4 vertebra my entire life, which explains the odd looking form, struggles with the top end speed, and the poor running economy (cannot break 16:00 in 5 K without pushing the VO2 max past 75).

Short-Term Running Goals:

Qualify for the US Olympic Trials. With the standard of 2:19 on courses with the elevation drop not exceeding 450 feet this is impossible unless I find an uncanny way to compensate for the L-4 defect with my muscles. But I believe in miracles.

Long-Term Running Goals:

2:08 in the marathon. Become a world-class marathoner. This is impossible unless I find a way to fill the hole in L-4 and make it act healthy either by growing the bone or by inserting something artificial that is as good as the bone without breaking anything important around it. Science does not know how to do that yet, so it will take a miracle. But I believe in miracles.

Personal:

I was born in 1973. Grew up in Moscow, Russia. Started running in 1984 and so far have never missed more than 3 consecutive days. Joined the LDS Church in 1992, and came to Provo, Utah in 1993 to attend BYU. Served an LDS mission from 1994-96 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Got married soon after I got back. My wife Sarah and I are parents of nine children: Benjamin, Jenny, Julia, Joseph, Jacob, William, Stephen, Matthew, Mary, and Bella. We home school our children.

I am a software engineer/computer programmer/hacker whatever you want to call it, and I am currently working for RedX. Aside from the Fast Running Blog, I have another project to create a device that is a good friend for a fast runner. I called it Fast Running Friend.

Favorite Quote:

...if we are to have faith like Enoch and Elijah we must believe what they believed, know what they knew, and live as they lived.

The temperature at the start was 19 F. I went through the first mile in 5:33 with Matt Wolpert, which proved to be too fast for my current fitness combined with the conditions, and paid for it for the rest of the race. Sariah caught up to me shortly after the turnaround, I tried to run with her, but could not keep up. Then Nan caught me, and I could not keep up either. Then a group caught me with about 0.3 left that included Mark Payne, and I was able to run with it, and even put up some semblance of a kick, but it was not enough to beat Mark. My first half was 8:53, second half 9:15. 11:33 at 2 miles, 17:34 at 3.

During the cool down Benjamin and I ran to the turnaround, then had to get back fast so we would not miss the awards ceremony. I asked him to pace me at 6:00 pace. I felt better than in the race, and was able to run 9:12 quite comfortably, kept asking Benjamin to speed up. I wonder if the difference was in the temperature as it warmed up somewhat by then and we were over the critical cutoff.

Not sure how much slower the race was due to the cold weather and the extra clothes. But it is encouraging that Benjamin could run 16:05 quite comfortably under those conditions.

Kids ran usual distances at home. We did not bring everybody to the race for cost reasons. The race made changes in the direction of more entertainment with the cost as usual being passed to the runners. We actually were not going to run it at all, but USATF offered us one comp, so we made a strategic decision to have just me and Benjamin.